Guyana submitted two of the eight CARICOM proposals which were approved by the Board of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria (GFATM) at its Sixth Meeting which commenced yesterday and will run until tomorrow in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The original sum allocated to the CARICOM countries over the first two years, 2004-2005, is estimated to be US$44M and is likely to reach a total of US$110M over a five-year period. And one of Guyana’s awards was for malaria, according to a release yesterday from the CARICOM Communication Unit in Georgetown.

Two of the successful proposals came from Haiti, while one each came from Belize, Jamaica, the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) and the Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP).

The allocations provide an opportunity for the CARICOM countries to work in a concerted manner in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the main areas of which include prevention, care and treatment and reduction of the stigmatising and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs).

Haiti secured awards for malaria and TB, the release said, adding that the country had received an award for HIV/AIDS in 2002 and is the only CARICOM country that received a grant from the Global Fund prior to these third-round awards.

Speaking from Thailand shortly after the declaration, Dr Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary-General, CARICOM Secretariat and Alternate Board Member for Latin America and the Caribbean, stated that the countries would need to clarify some aspects of the proposals and satisfy certain conditions before signing grant agreements with the Fund.

He said further, the release noted, that a full discussion on the implications of the GFATM awards will take place at the Third Annual Meeting of PANCAP, scheduled for November 12-13 in Georgetown.

Dr Greene noted that expressions of appreciation are due to several institutions that provided technical assistance for the various proposals and singled out the United Nations Development Pro-gramme (UNDP) for its efforts in support of the PANCAP proposal. The Global Fund is chaired by US Secretary of State for Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, and in its almost two years of existence has approved funding in the sum of about US$2000M, 60% of which has been allocated to Africa, the release added.